Runes Bleak
by Jason Kulls
Summary: Gage never wanted to be different,he never wanted to stand out. But now he finds himself having to use his special arcane gift to stop something that could possibly change the world.
1. Prolog

Rune's Bleak

Prolog:

I ran, I remember that much, the running. It was raining hard and the lightning seemed as hard after me as people chasing me were. With every flash striking nearer to me I could see them closing in. And every earth shattering clap of sound from the clouds, I lost their shouting voices. All around me trees stood out as grasping creatures in the shrieking wind and hungry lighting. The cold air ripped at my lungs with my every heavy breath. I never noticed the bare root holding up out of the soft earth. Looking back at it, I would have sworn that damned root looked like a grasping, hand, claw, tactical or something along those lines, all that I can really say is that it looked menacing. Well that and that it helped me to my foreboding doom.

But Id rather not fixate on my ending but rather Id like to speak of the life I lived up to that point and the reasons it came in such a manner. All though I suppose I should start from the beginning, that being my name, and what I look like. Well dear reader, my name is _Gage Rune _and please remember this because I hate it when people forget my name or repeatedly ask me why I'm name _Gage _blasted _Rune_. Ok, look my father named me Gabe but he was drunk off his chair when he and my mother were naming me so it sounded like Gage and my mother didn't care what I was named. Goes to show I had great parents.

Quick background before I move on My dad was a drunk and couldn't hold a job for more then a week, but some how he always found one and managed to squeeze money out of what ever he had at the time. My mother hated the sight of me. She wanted an abortion but her religion said otherwise (I don't know that religion). She also wanted to toss me to adoption but my dad wouldn't let her (I wish he had) She bottle fed me from the start and would pay a new baby sitter every week to deal with me. Once I got old enough to walk and talk she had me doing work. My original last name was Derleth. If it worst for the bad history I would have kept it. But enough with my history, long story short I had screwed up parents who either didn't love me or would spit hang over vomit all over me.

But I guess my looks didn't help my mother not loving me. Don't get me wrong I look pretty attractive, aside from that ghost white skin and blood red eyes, and NO I am not a blood sucking vampire. I happen to love garlic. I'm an albino, meaning no skin pigment, whish is what makes your eyes blue or brown, and you skin (Forgive me) black, or white, or Indian, or Asian, or what ever. Also because of my no pigment skin I don't tan I burn.

Now you would think that from such a screwed up family I would turn out rotten to the core, but quite the contrary, I may look strange and act like a freak but I helped everyone to whom deemed necessary of my skills in any manner, granted being call Dracula didn't help me feel better and for a long time I ran from myself.

But now, now I'm a six foot albino with eight inch green spiky hair that stays where it wants (meaning everywhere), purple eyes and a high IQ. My name is Gage Rune and I'm a nineteen year old collage student with a 4.5 GPA, and the power to control reality.

Nice to meet you.

_Dead notes: Oh and I will pop in every once and a while to clarify things with these nifty little Italicized spots called Dead notes_


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter: 1

"Hey Gage! You done yet!" Shouted Rachel down the hall of their dorm room. Rachel was a girl of average height, standing around five foot five and six when she wasn't wearing her combat boots. She was what most would refer to as a Punk Goth. She wore black and a lot of it but she also wore other colors, she also didn't wear make up, strongly preferred metal music to screamo , but the biggest tell was just in the way she dressed and held herself.

"Ya Rache, just a sec I got to finish up this job." Gage called back from his so call office.

Gage's room was shrouded in darkness despite the time of noon thanks to the blinds being closed all the way. He room was neatly organized with random trinkets, tools and collectables that most geeks of his stature would have. Gage sat at his desk in a corner of the room, his ghostly face lit by the computer screen, about his head he wore a rather expensive looking head set. His left hand worked furiously, the fingers dancing across the keys of his gaming pad, while his right fed liquorish into his mouth almost mechanically. The corner seemed to resonate with the sound of battle coming from the computer, screams and gun fire filling the air with the sweet song of mayhem. With a final gun shot from the speakers of the computer brought silence to the room, only to have a deep demonic voice proclaim victory. Gage tapped his hand on the computer tower four times in superstitious reaction to his victory. He briskly stood from his wheel chair, removed his head set and hopped across the room in a single bound to grab a permanent marker he named Bleak, and a mechanical pencil to which he crammed into his black rave pants which were marked with neon green runes lining the pants from waist to ankle. He then scooped up his theoretical physics note book with a quick swipe of his hand. He pocketed the first to and as she snatched up that last the door swung open throwing arks of light across the room from the hall. Gage covered his eyes and hissed like a cat.

Standing in the door was a girl wearing black cargo pants, a red tank top with a skull entangled in roses and barbed wire, and black and red fish nets up her arms to the shoulder.

"I thought you said you hated being called a vampire?" Rachel asked sticking her hands in her pockets as she spoke.

He uncovered his face as he hunted for a shirt in this closet.

"I do, but that doesn't mean that the sun doesn't hurt any less." Gage said in reply as he continued his hunt for a shirt.

"Come on Gage, we're going to be late for class." Rachel said turning her back to the room as if to leave.

"Just hold on." He said as he pulled a black shirt baring a twenty sided dice over is head to cover his visible ribs. As soon as his head was free and his arms open he lunged out the door to land next to his room mate and the both walked out.

"So what was the job this morning, hacking or gaming?" Rachel asked as they both left their dorm room. She closed the door and locked me.

"Gaming, it was a Black Lite 3 tournament, round three of five. The team paid $300 for me to what I do best." Gage spoke with pride as they walked down the low ceilinged hall.

"Kill bad guys?" Rachel enquired.

"Kill bad guys." Gage replied with pride.

They continued down the hall to the stairs, and out of the building the whole while they spoke of random things starting with teachers and classes and continuing to what if cats had evolved faster then humans and ruled the world.

_Dead Note: Rachel and I went to PSG (Pandora School of the gifted) ya I know it seems a rather unlucky named since the school is named after the chick who couldn't hold her hands back from the box and threw the world into sins. But hey the place is meant for people who are mentally gifted like me or for those who are gifted in other ways…. Like me._

Gage and Rachel walked through the court yard to the Science building what was marked with a giant atom engraved into the stone over the doors. The building smelled of floor wax, polished wood, and science experiments gone wrong. The science geeks here had a nasty habit of causing explosions.

_Dead Note: the explosions are either on purpose or by accident and many times both._

The building was vast and fresh of the print press. The enter school was no more then three years old and it still looked clean and unscathed. The stone floors where solid white and appeared to be seamless, the walls were stone with thick oak doors marking the entrance to class rooms, each door marked with a number, name of the teacher and what the taught. Both Gage and Rachel walked up a flight of stairs and turned right into a massive lecturing hall which was now filling with students. The room was designed like a stadium where each row of seats was lower then the last, and the center of the room at the lowest level. At this bottom most point stood an old man dressed in a worn brown suit with a blue tie, his white hair was long and thinning on top. But where his head was lacking hair his face made up for with a thick well trimmed white beard. This was Dr. Calvin, the leading physics teacher. Gage and Rachel found their seats and waited quietly, Rachel drawing in her note book, Gage propping his feet up on the table and draping his arms over his face. The class began and Gage began snoring but no one stopped him.

_Dead note: I had a strong natural understanding of Physics, but I thought of it in more….. Direct terms_

Finally the professor Shouted "Gage!" But as was expected he didn't budge.

"By god that boy could sleep through a nuclear blast." Spoke Dr. Calvin in his German accented voice. He picked up a book containing the properties of elements and threw it at the unaware Gage. The spine of the book struck Gage squarely in the center of the forehead startling him. Gage let out a shout of supers before tipping his chair to far back and falling out of sight behind the table. A moment later Gages head popped up behind the desk with a sheet of paper stuck to the side of his green hair and his eyes wide awake.

"Did I disturb you beauty sleep Mr. Rune?" asked Dr. Calvin.

Gage stood up and dusted himself off.

"Not in the least sir I was merely meditating on your class." Gage responded with a smug look on his face as he walked to the stairs and down towards the teacher.

"Well be that as it may, the worst lie I've heard this month but I would like you to be a demonstration." Dr Calvin said as Gage reached the bottom of the stairs.

The teacher continued his lesson as Gage stepped into the back ground and waited for when he would be needed.

"Now class there was one point when we thought we understood most of the basic principles of Physics or at least had them within our grasp. But after the Vale Experiment on September 28th what we thought was proven false. For reasons unknown specific people have been given strangle… effects thus giving them the ability to alter mass, space, and even time. These rare few individuals as Mr. Rune here are for reasons yet known use Symbols to use their abilities." Dr. Calvin gestured to me with one hand.

"Now Mr. Rune if you would be so kind, please show the class these said effects and explain what you are doing." The Dr asked loud enough for the class to hear. As the teacher stepped back to his desk Gage took the stage. Gage held his hands behind his back in and at ease position as he surveyed the entire class. He let out a deep breath and began.

"I may not be as smart as our intellectual teacher but I do have certain skills as he has pointed out. With a marker like this" With a flurry of his hand Gage produced his permanent parker Bleak.

"With a tool such as this I could do anything, within reason, despite all the rumors that we few have the power to level cities we could but only if we wanted to die in turn. With each "spell" if you well we give a portion of our strength to make it work, now little things like this"

Gage turned and drew the Norse symbol for stone on the instructor's desk with Bleak. He then pressed his palm against it and beneath the rune the wood of the desk turned to Granit. The Granit began to spread across the desk like a moss until the desk was only stone but the papers and other objects on the table remained the same.

"You see that, was easy, I could do that almost infinitely. But if I do something more advanced and dramatic it will take more out of me. Rachel, please come here." Gage asked.

Rachel nodded and came down to stand beside him. Gage grabbed a sheet of paper and drew a circle on it and inside the circle the symbol Push, while on the back of the paper he drew the signs for fly and stick. He threw the sheet of paper face down into the air and it shot to the ceiling and stuck there. Gage then drew a bigger circle directly bellow it, one large enough for a person to stand in. In the center of this new circle he drew the symbols for lift, up and light weight. He then stood up and stepped back admiring his handy work. After a brief moment of self satisfaction he gestured for Rachel to step into the circle. Knowing what he had done because he had done this before, she stepped in without hesitation. After a second of nothing Rachel's hair began to rise around her as though she was floating in water, as the seconds passed she floated upwards but stopped half way between the floor and ceiling.

"See this is more complicated so it takes more energy. I could only do this trick ten more times, maybe fifteen if I eat between each one. And that brings me to my next trait of us special people, we are like cars, we can only go so far before we need to refuel or in our case eat. The most dangerous thing to us is over casting while on caffeine. The way caffeine makes you hyper it makes us feel more fueled up then we really are."

At that three hands shot up in the listening and now fully entranced class. Gage pointed to a guy in the third row with his hand raised. At this the guy lowered his hand and cleared his throat, once finished he asked

"So does that mean you can't half any kind of caffeine?"

At this Gage nodded his head thoughtfully before answering.

"Quite the contrary, I can take in more caffeine the most people cus I burn through it faster, I just can't cast any runes, or more properly, I don't cast any runes for fear of over extending my limits."

The guy sat back looking rather confused with the answer given. Gage then pointed to a shy looking girl who sat next to the stair way with her hand raised. On queue she lowered her hand and stood.

"What happens when you exceed your limit's of casting?" she asked in an honestly wondering voice.

Gage stroked the stubble of his chin as he pondered this. After a long while of silence he gave his answer.

"To be honest I have no clue, I have heard of horror stories of people to combust, explode, get turned inside out, or even disappear from existence. I don't know if they are true but I would rather not test these stories." Gage spoke in an even tone as though he was speaking about weather and not the possibility of being turned inside out.

The girl sat back down looking visibly paler, and looking a little sicker then before. Gage then moved on to the final question. It was a guy with blond dreadlocks and a dirty t-shirt sitting in the back row, slouched in his chair. As Gage gestured to him he lowered his hand but did not stand.

"So, dude, could you come to my party this Friday?" He asked in a mellow voice as his half open eyes wandered the room.

"Why yes I could come to your party but the going rate is $40 an hour at parties." Gage said with a simple smile.

It was then Dr. Calvin stood and strolled in front of Gage to address the class.

"Alright what is quite enough for today, class is dismissed, but remember to read pages 125 to 167 before next class."

With that the class as one stood and began to flow out for the room through the single door.

After a short second the teacher spun on his heel to face Gage who was rubbing off a portion of the symbol on the ground keeping Rachel aloft. As he did so she was thrown to the down with force by the paper above, which still held the mark for push. Gage stepped forward and caught Rachel in the bend of his arms. Gage set her on her feet with grace and ease she gave him a quick high five before running to grab her things.

"That was out of line Mr. Rune, I wanted a quick, and miner example with a brief explanation not, THIS!" Dr. Calvin shouted this last word and with it gestured to his desk, and the sheet of paper still on the ceiling.

"And what's more you didn't have to disturb the poor girl with those horror stories."

Gage only shrugged as he walked over to the desk and with bleak, drew a line through the symbol of stone, turning the desk back to its original oak wood.

"She asked an honest question, and I gave an honest answer. And you should have told me before class that you wanted a simple example that was your own fault for your vague email request."

The professor rubbed his brow in frustration.

"You are by far one of the most brilliant students I have ever headed, now be it from your power or if they come from your mind I will never know. But by far your greatest flaw is not being able to see the bigger picture, or think beyond two steps in a conversation. If you really want a future beyond your incessant gaming, you need to use your brilliance, and THINK. Now get going you will be late for class."

Gage turned back for a second and drew the symbol of fire on his palm. He raised his hand and pointed it at the sheet of paper still attached to the ceiling and as he did so the sheet flashed into flames and began do drift down as ashen rain to the hard floor.

Gage walked back to his desk and grabbed his belongings and walked to the door. At the door he stopped and turned around to face Dr. Calvin.

"Thank you for the advice professor." He said in an even tone marked with gratitude.

The rest of the day went by as normal, he worked hard in his art class, he toyed around in chemistry, and he doodled in his note book during philosophy. His classes were few and he liked it that way, it gave him time to think on his own, and work, and learn more of himself.

The sound of the door opening greeted Gage as he cooked dinner, over the oven. Rachel walked in looking haggard by a long day of mathematics and chemical science.

_Dead Note: Rachel is gifted with chemistry and the ideas of it but a bit behind the curve with the mathematics of it_

Gage dished up the stake stuffed Ravioli he had been working on and set it on the table before her. As he dished up his own he asked the daily question.

"So, have you found a boy friend yet?" he asked over his shoulder as he dressed his food from the counter with seasonings.

"Nope, you found one?" Rachel asked mockingly around a mouth full of ravioli.

Gage sat down at the table beside Rachel and gathered up his silver wear.

"No I have not found a girl yet, and I am not fond of men, you old crow." Gage replied with a rye smile.

The both laughed at the old joke between them and the banter began.

_Dead note: Rachel is not interested in men, she is umm, looking for a girl friend. I didn't know that for a long while till the end of high school when I had set her up a date with a friend of mine and she had to put her sexuality bluntly._

They tossed witty banter back and forth across the table laughing at each other and more then once spitting mouthfuls of juice across the table while trying to hold back the laugher as Gage made fun of Rachel's shortness, sexuality, blond hair, taste in clothing, and knowledge of mathematics (or lack there of). In return she would throw out insults about Gage's skin coloring, skinniness, green hair, purple eyes, taste in clothing and his love for art but distaste for modern art. This was their nightly run through as they thought of new things to throw at each other in verbal taunts. After a dinner of mocking each other they both sat down and watched bad science fiction movies and Gage randomly tormented Rachel by tickling her feet. If you hadn't known them you would have thought they were a couple of close siblings. In a sense they were siblings, Gage disowned his family just as they had disowned him, and Rachel was disowned because of her none belief in devout religion.

When Rachel fell asleep in the middle of Dawn of the Dead Gage took out Bleak and drew a rather believable waxed mustache and goatee on her face, after word he hefted her up over his shoulder and dropped her off in her own bed before he went to his own bed to drift off into dreamless sleep.


End file.
